


Better Late Than Never

by whatkindofladyareyou



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-16
Updated: 2013-08-16
Packaged: 2017-12-23 15:18:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/928043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatkindofladyareyou/pseuds/whatkindofladyareyou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He should have done it sooner. A lot sooner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Late Than Never

_You're supposed to breathe. That was the thing that kept the system working. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat as needed. Thing is... Stiles was finding it a little hard to breathe. He tried, of course. He'd been doing it his whole life. Shouldn't have been too hard. In. Out. Again. Simple._

_But there were a lot of holes and gashes in his torso. And one of those might be in one of his lungs. He wasn't sure, but it felt like it. Which is why the breathing was hard. And painful. Very, very painful. There were a lot things that hurt-his surely black by now eye, and his torn up knuckles, the gash in his upper arm and his broken leg, the millions of openings all along his body-but the breathing hurt the most out of all those things._

_Tears stung his eyes every time he tried, so he tried not to think about the pain. He tried to think about good things. Like when his dad started dating Scott's mom, and they didn't know how to tell anyone, even though all of them already know what was happening. Already joked about it in class, and wondered what their wedding would look like more than once. They'd been really cute when they finally decided to officially go public. Ms McCall sat on the arm of the loveseat in Stiles' living room, holding onto his dad's hand and smiling nervously. His dad grinned every time he looked at her, though he tried to keep her from seeing it when he did._

_He thought about Scott. His best friend. His brother, He thought about when they were kids, after his dad left. How much he had tried not to cry. He thought about the promise he made to himself-that he would be Scott's family. Until the end. He'd be there, because Scott was important. He'd known it the second they met. He was the shy kid on the playground, but opened up really easily, At least to Stiles. Scott was always there, trying to do the right thing, tearing himself apart to keep Beacon Hills a happy murder free place. Scott was so good, and he kept fighting, even with everything he had on his shoulder. Scott would try not to cry at his funeral. But he wouldn't be able to. He could never hold out in the end. Scott would cry, holding onto his mom, or Stiles' dad... Maybe both. Stiles hoped it would be both._

_He thought about Lydia and Allison, the most beautiful girls he'd ever seen. And so strong. He thought about Lydia's scream. As weapons go, it shouldn't have been much of one. But she found a way to make it her armor. And she wore it well now. Lydia was the one that decided they needed to get together when they weren't fighting evil supernatural things. She made up a monthly pack meeting where no one was allowed to talk battle tactics. Stiles still looked forward to it. Some days it was the only thing he looked forward to. He thought about Lydia's perfume, and how it used to drive him crazy. She still smelled really good. As he lay there, trying to breathe, he knew he'd made a good choice for his long time childhood and teendom crush. She was amazing._

_And Allison... She had the brightest smile Stiles had ever seen, second only to Scott's. He hadn't seen it lately, but he remembered what it looked like. He remembered crafting jokes whose only purpose was to make her smile. You wouldn't know it from looking at her, but she had the geekiest sense of humor. The girl could laugh at stupid puns if they were good enough. He wished he could have made her smile, just one last time. She wouldn't smile for a long time now. Not when he was gone, but maybe it would bring her and Scott closer together again. He'd never really understood why they couldn't be together. Stiles didn't believe in fate, but if there were ever two people that were meant to be together, it was her and Scott._

_He thought about his pack, and when he felt himself weaken too much, and started seeing spots, he finally let himself think about Isaac. He liked Isaac. Like he'd liked Lydia. It occurred to him that pining over someone might not be a good choice for his final thoughts, but he couldn't help it. He liked Isaac. A lot. With his stupid grin and his broad shoulders and his curly hair that he tried to smooth down way too much. Stiles should have told him not to do that. It looked good smoothed down, all soft and shiny, but he liked it better bouncy and messy. He liked when it looked like he'd just woken up because it made him think of waking up next to him._

_He liked that Isaac was sarcastic and cocky and the quickest werewolf he knew. He liked that Isaac seemed to enjoy going over research with him and coming up with a battle plan. And he was good at it. Stiles wouldn't have been able to come up with half of his brilliant plans if it wasn't for Isaac. He lay on the forest floor, only managing short gasps, and closed his eyes, the image of Isaac's lips emerging the second he got rid of the moonlight. Sometimes Isaac smirked at him, in a different way, not like he smirked at everyone else, and it made Stiles think that maybe Isaac liked him too._

_It didn't help that Isaac liked to touch him. Nothing too serious, just the occasional hand on his shoulder, or on his back... One time it even trailed along his hip after they made a study session appointment. His fingers found their way to Stiles' skin a lot. And Isaac had good fingers. Long and slim. He didn't use his hands to talk like Stiles did. He liked that too. He liked that Isaac looked calm almost always, and hated when he didn't. Because it meant someone was in danger. Isaac stood a little hunched over, like he didn't know what to do with his height. And he leaned in doorways. He liked those things too._

_'I should have kissed him,' Stiles thought, and stopped trying. The system was gonna have to manage on its own. It was too hard to breathe now._

\-----

Stiles opened his eyes, only to be confronted with the surface of the sun. Okay, not really. But that's what it looked like, all the bright white light. Someone next to him yelled, but he couldn't make out the words. And then he saw Scott.

"You look like hell," he croaked, eyebrows furrowing painfully.

Scott laughed. Actually, he kinda yelped, and rushed forward to hug him, but thought better of it halfway through. Instead, he pressed his lips to his cheek. Stiles watched the veins in his neck run black, but he hadn't felt the pain Scott was draining away in the first place. If he didn't move, he mostly just felt numb. As Scott pulled away, he realized he was lying flat on his back.

"Someone want to help me sit up?" The bed made a low whirring noise as it folded in two, and then he saw all of them. Lydia and Allison were in the hallway, grinning and hugging each other as they looked in at him. Scott was smiling as well, standing at the foot of the bed with his mom. His dad was leaning over him now, holding his hand in one of his own. 

"Welcome back, Stiles," he said, his voice shaking just a little bit.

Stiles squeezed his hand despite the pain. "Good to be back. Sorry I was out so late." A fresh set of tears slipped down the sheriff's cheeks, but he smiled, moving one of his hands to the middle of Stiles' chest. 

As his dad sat down in a chair next to him, Stiles looked around the room. He hadn't noticed him before, but Isaac was leaning against the door. His eyes were really red, but he was grinning despite it. It shouldn't have been possible, but his smile widened when he saw Stiles looking at him. And just like that, he was back to where he'd been before the mauling, his heart beating too fast when he looked at Isaac's bright blue eyes. 

"Hey...guys? It's good that you're here... On the same day and all, but... You think I could talk to Isaac for a second?" 

Everyone turned to look at Isaac. His smile disappeared and his eyes widened. He lingered nervously in the door way, but stepped forward when everyone made room for him. The sheriff moved to the couch against the wall to give him some space. "Um...Yeah?"

"You're gonna have to lean down a little man, I can't talk so loud." Accordingly, Stiles dropped his voice a few octaves.

"Uh...Stiles...I'm a werewolf? I can-"

"Yeah I know. But...Please?"

Isaac shuffled nervously, but did as Stiles asked. When he was within reach, Stiles lifted his slightly less damaged arm and pulled him in closer, capturing his lips with his own.

Isaac tensed up, but he didn't move back. Instead, he pushed forward a little, carefully kissing him back and trying not to touch Stiles' split lip with anything other than his tongue. His breath was warm and soft, and came out in short bursts, like he was holding it in when his lips weren't occupied. Stiles wouldn't stop kissing him until his lungs screamed. When he finally let Isaac stand up again, he noticed his lips were swollen and red, but the corner of his mouth was raised in half a smile.

_Shoulda done that sooner._

"Yeah," Isaac said, and Stiles realized he'd said that out loud. "Me too. But now's all right." He held Stiles' eyes for a second, a full blown smile on his face, then surveyed the (still full) room. "Not great," he observed as everyone noticeably tried averting their eyes and Stiles turned a shade of bright red. "But good."


End file.
